Lee:
In my case, it was almost always the other way around. Being on such a short leash, as you said, made it nearly impossible to have friends, much less boyfriends.
We had one phone, that was on the wall between the kitchen and living room. If I received or made calls, my side of the conversation was always monitored. I was allowed to babysit for neighbours and other JWs, and on those occasions, it felt so great to be able to have a 'normal' conversation on the phone with someone without having to be careful about what you talked about. Mind you, it was never "bad", just what teenagers want to talk about.... clothes, school, which guy you thought was cute, etc. I was too naive to know about phone sex and stuff like that, but my parents were convinced that if they left me alone for two seconds, I'd be swearing and doing drugs and having orgies and bringing other assorted reproaches on Jehovah.
Anyway, the short leash (or choke chain if you will) just kept other kids away. I know that I purposely avoided becoming close friends with anyone because I was mortified of having them 'interrogated' by my parents.
When I was 17 or 18, a friend of the family introduced her brother to me. He was several years older and was interested in getting married. I was not the least bit interested in him. Not that I have anything against sheep farmers (yes, really!) per se, it's just not the lifestyle I wanted. It's kind of funny how the friend felt I would have been such a great prize catch for her brother, but she didn't feel that it mattered that I deserved someone at least compatible to me.
The teen years were horrible. I couldn't wait to move out on my own.
Love, Scully
It is not persecution for an informed person
to expose a certain religion as being false. - WT 11/15/63
A religion that teaches lies cannot be true. - WT 12/1/91
